Software Flashcards
What are utility programs?
Utility programs (utilities) are part of an operating system that carry out certain functions such as virus checking, defragmentation, and screensaver.
What is malware?
Malware refers to programs such as viruses, worms, and Trojan horses that are installed on a user’s computer with the aim of deleting, corrupting, or manipulating data illegally.
What is anti-virus software?
Anti-virus software is designed to quarantine and delete files or programs infected by a computer virus; it can run in the background or be initiated by the user.
What is heuristic checking?
Heuristic checking is the process of checking software for behavior that could indicate a possible virus.
What does quarantine mean in the context of anti-virus software?
Quarantine means to isolate (in order to later delete) a file or program identified by anti-virus software as being infected by a virus.
What is defragmentation?
Defragmentation is a process that reorganizes sectors on an HDD by rearranging blocks of data so that they are contiguous.
What does contiguous mean?
Contiguous means next to each other.
What is a back-up?
A back-up is the process of making copies of files onto another storage media in case the original file becomes corrupted or is deleted.
What is a screensaver?
A screensaver is software that supplies a still or moving image on a monitor if a computer has been inactive for a period of time.
What is a device driver?
A device driver is software that communicates with the operating system and translates data into a format understood by the device.
What is a descriptor in the context of USB devices?
A descriptor is a collection of information about a device plugged into a USB port; this can include vendor ID (VID), product ID (PID), or serial number.
What is an operating system?
An operating system is software that provides an environment in which applications can run and also provides an interface between the computer and human operator.
What is a boot up/bootstrap loader?
A boot up/bootstrap loader is a small program that is used to load other programs to correctly start up a computer system.
What does EEPROM stand for?
EEPROM stands for electronically erasable programmable ROM.
What is a human computer interface (HCI)?
A human computer interface (HCI) is an interface supplied by the operating system to ‘hide’ the complexities of the software and hardware from the human user.
What is a command line interface (CLI)?
A command line interface (CLI) is an interface that allows communication with the computer by typing in commands using a keyboard.
What is a graphical user interface (GUI)?
A graphical user interface (GUI) is an interface that uses icons to represent apps and tasks which the user can select or launch by clicking on a mouse or using a touch screen.
What does WIMP stand for?
WIMP stands for windows icons menu and pointing device, which is an interface that uses a pointing device such as a mouse to select options from screen icons or a menu.
What is post-WIMP?
Post-WIMP is a modern touch screen interface system that allows actions such as pinching and rotating.
What is memory management?
Memory management is the part of an operating system that controls main memory.
What is security management?
Security management is the part of an operating system that ensures the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data.
What is hardware management?
Hardware management is the part of an operating system that controls all input and output devices; it is made up of sub-systems such as printer management.
What is a buffer?
A buffer is a memory area used to store data temporarily.
What is file management?
File management is part of an operating system that manages files in a computer, including the ability to create, delete, copy, open, close, and rename files.
What is an interrupt?
An interrupt is a signal sent from a device or software to a microprocessor requesting its attention; the microprocessor suspends all operations until the interrupt has been serviced.
What is multitasking?
A function that allows a computer to process more than one task/process at a time.
What is an administrator?
A person responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of a computer system that involves multi-user function.
What is a user account?
An agreement that allows an individual to use a computer; the user needs a user name and password to enter the user’s area.
What is an error handling routine?
A routine in a program or operating system that recognises and recovers a system from abnormal inputs or hardware faults.
Example: Recovery from an attempt to divide by zero.
What is firmware?
A program that provides low level control for devices.
What is interrupt priority?
The priority assigned to an interrupt so that the microprocessor knows which one needs to be serviced first.
What does it mean to service an interrupt?
When an interrupt is received, some action needs to be taken by the processor depending on what caused the interrupt.
What is an interrupt service routine (ISR)?
Software that handles interrupt requests and sends a request to the CPU for processing.
Example: When the printer is out of paper.
What is machine code?
A binary programming language that can be loaded and executed without translation.
What is a high-level language (HLL)?
A programming language that is independent of computer hardware; it needs to be translated into machine code before execution.
What is a low-level language (LLL)?
A programming language that is dependent on computer hardware, including machine code and assembly language.
What is assembly language?
A programming language that is dependent on computer hardware; it needs to be translated into machine code before execution.
What is an assembler?
A computer program that translates programming code written in assembly language into machine code.
What is a compiler?
A computer program that translates a source program written in a high-level language to machine code.
What is a translator?
A program that converts a program written in a high-level language into machine code.
What is an interpreter?
A computer program that analyses and executes a program written in a high-level language line by line.
What is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)?
A suite of programs used to write and test a computer program written in a high-level language.
What is debugging?
Finding errors in a computer program by running or tracing the program.
What is prettyprinting?
Displaying source code using different colours and formatting, which make the code easier to read and understand.
What is a report window?
A separate window in the runtime environment of an IDE that shows the contents of variables during the execution of a program.
